(Aside, if not Prime Minister, Mrs. Neo feels Mr. Tharoor has a good shot at Bollywood. “Just look at those dreamy eyes. And oooh the sideburns.”)

This boom will transform the area around Amit’s apartment into the next Dubai. Amit will sell the apartment at the peak and retire on the profits.(The peak has not yet occurred, though “Swaminathan’s welding shop and real estate agency” and “Jai Saraswati Mata bicycle tyre puncture repair” shops show much promise in jumpstarting the “Dubaisation”.)

In sharp contrast, while Amit spends all day coding reading weighty blogs and thinking about “The impact of the Lalgarh riots on the tax holiday for Indian IT companies”, Mrs. Neo wasted most of her first month in India literally “sweating” the small stuff, and canvassing door-to-door to find good references for maids.

Although, on the flip side, Mrs. Neo is now so well-known in the neighborhood, she would have a good chance of getting elected – if she wasn’t a US citizen.

But – Amit says by 2015 India will allow “dual citizens” to run for office, just in time for Mrs. Neo to join Prime Minister Tharoor’s cabinet!

13 Responses to “Stop sweating the details and look at the big picture while planning your return to India”

If Mrs Neo joins the cabinet, she will have posh office accommodation in a Lutyens Delhi location, her own security, official armoured car with sirens etc. So don’t sweat the small stuff such as Vasant Vihar apartments. ;-) Instead think of the big picture such as what will YOU do as the spouse with lots of time on your hands. By then, Junior will also be around 10 and you can safely send him to Doon or Scindia.

FWIW I do not think of Mr Tharoor as good-looking. I find coloured eyes on olive skins in men singularly creepy. And the sideburns suggest he has a 1970s Rajesh Khanna hangover. That is, like, so last century.

I see what is the next boom industry in India. A Maid consultancy service, to provide well trained, sophisticated yet caring and sincere maids for the returning NRIs to India. May be we can form a portfolio in the cabinet – The Maids minister and appoint Mrs. Neo for that post. How is that! :)

You also have to pluck much of his hair out to match for Farooq Sheikh never had too much hair.

The thought of him singing “Ooooooo Noorie” still traumatises me* and in my weirdest dreams, Farooq Sheikh merges into the scene from Moonstruck, where Cher’s granddad takes the dogs out for a walk and does “Ooooooo” at the moon…

*Despite the eye-watering first shot of the then-stunning Ms Poonam Dhillon which made for a collective sharp intake of breath in the cinema hall.